Nanoengineering Is Thriving
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TINY SOLUTIONS FOR BIG PROBLEMS At U of T, nanoengineering is thriving. Our unique facilities RESEARCH IN FOCUS: enable our partners in industry to build the 21st century nanotechnologies needed to provide faster, greener and more resilient products. Whether you are a sector-leading company looking for new innovations or a nimble startup aiming to bridge the gap between concept and commercialization, NANOENGINEERING U of T Engineering has what you need to take your project to the next level. We have a strong track record of success, entrepreneurship, patents, inventions and industry solutions. HERE’S WHAT PARTNERING WITH U OF T ENGINEERING DELIVERS: — An inside track to breakthrough technologies — Customized solutions to industrially relevant problems — An extra spark of innovation to your company CHALLENGE: — Collaboration with U of T Engineering’s world-leading researchers, including top How can we make smartphones smarter, graduate students, undergraduate students and alumni solar energy less expensive and medical conditions easier to diagnose? RESEARCH SOLUTION: IMPACT Leverage the power of nanoengineering. EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS OFFICE OF THE VICE-DEAN, RESEARCH FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCE & ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO 416-946-3038 | [email protected] uoft.me/collaboration PROFESSOR GLENN HIBBARD NANOARCHITECTURE FOR STRONGER MATERIALS THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP A bridge is mostly empty space; it is the unique shape of the trusses and struts that provide its strength. Professor Glenn Hibbard and his team are applying that same principle on the nano scale, designing intricate 3D One nanometre is to the thickness of a human hair as Department of Materials Science & Engineering and structures that lead to lighter, stronger materials for use in the aerospace one inch is to a mile. It is hard to imagine designing Professor Charles Mims of the Department of Chemical industry and more. something so small, but U of T Engineering researchers Engineering & Applied Chemistry. can. Common devices — including the integrated circuit Hibbard’s team builds their scaffolds using polymers (plastics) which are easy boards found in smartphones, cars, TVs and even kitchen One unique technology in development at OCCAM is a to manipulate but do not have much compressive strength. They then coat appliances — contain layers of electrically conducting transfer system that allows the movement of samples these scaffolds with tiny crystals of high-strength metals. The smaller the materials only a few nanometres thick. from one piece of analysis equipment to another while crystals, the more resistant they are to cracking and damage. Such materials maintaining an ultra-clean, high-vacuum environment. are ideal for use in space (for example, in satellites, planetary rovers and Seeing a structure that is smaller than the wavelengths of “It’s essentially like a vacuum suitcase,” says Perovic. other applications) where weight is a liability. visible light requires advanced techniques, which is why “This isn’t done anywhere else in the world.” the Ontario Centre for the Characterization of Advanced The same approach can be used to build materials from plant-derived Materials (OCCAM) is so critical. Made possible by a Such facilities provide an understanding of how changing biopolymers that are durable but also recyclable. Hibbard’s spinoff company, A microscopic view of a microtruss coated in a thin partnership with Hitachi Technologies Canada, which a material at the nano scale results in new properties, FlyTechnologies, is dedicated to commercializing these new materials. sleeve of nanocrystalline metal. provided both funding and state-of-the-art equipment, from increased strength to altered electrical conductivity. this brand new, $33-million facility contains tools that These new materials, in turn, could transform everything can analyze materials and surfaces with world-leading from consumer electronics to clean energy. precision. It is led by Professor Doug Perovic of the PROFESSOR WARREN CHAN PROFESSOR JOYCE POON NANOTECHNOLOGY IN HEALTH CARE LIGHTING UP THE CLOUD THE DETAILS Can nanotechnology improve human health? Professor Warren The rise of cloud computing Chan, a biomedical engineer who holds the Canada Research requires the rapid With a world-leading facility for nanoengineering, Perovic’s team has Chair in Bionanotechnology, thinks so. transmission of ever- created an artificial leaf. It was built with an array of nanostructures with increasing volumes of data. Cancer treatment is one promising application. Because tumour photocatalytic properties that absorb energy from sunlight and react with Optical communications — systems are ‘leaky,’ they can be infused with nanoparticles that carbon dioxide in the air to create a liquid or gaseous fuel. The rate of which use lasers to transmit make tumours easier to spot with medical imaging techniques. production is still too low to be economically feasible, but OCCAM could data at the speed of light These nanoparticles, made of gold and other materials, can also help the team evaluate new catalysts to make the dream of manufactured over optical fibers — is the provide a possible avenue for treatment: lasers can heat up the photosynthesis a reality. technology of choice for long nanoparticles and destroy the cancer cells. distances, but most local Professor Ted Sargent’s team in electrical and computer engineering are networks still rely on copper By using strands of DNA to link nanoparticles together — perfecting the cutting-edge technology known as quantum dot solar cells. wire, which is cheaper much like LEGO blocks — Chan and his team can control the Quantum dots are semiconducting nanoparticles that can be tuned to but slower. properties of this new technology, including how easily they absorb different wavelengths of light. Quantum dots have the potential to are taken up by cancer cells. They can also make nanoscale significantly reduce the cost of producing solar cells. Along with IBM Canada Professor Joyce Poon and her team are addressing this ‘cages’ that deliver drugs or other nanotechnologies to light up Research and colleagues from several other Ontario universities, Sargent’s challenge by creating smaller, less expensive devices and or kill tumours. circuits for short optical communication links that can replace “ Most engineers design with team is part of the Southern Ontario Smart Computing Platform that builds and tests hundreds of virtual materials before starting work on a real device. the copper wires. The team researches on integrated photonic materials; our business is Like any substance introduced into the body, some types of devices and circuits implemented in silicon, compound nanoparticles can have negative health effects at high doses, design of materials.” Professor George Eleftheriades in electrical and computer engineering is semiconductors, and phase transition materials that change but Chan cautions against painting all nanoparticles with pursuing materials that bend light in ways that almost sound like magic. between insulating and conducting states. They spend a lot of the same brush. His team is adding to medical research by PROFESSOR DOUG PEROVIC Recently, his team created an ‘invisibility cloak’ that can mask an object time studying and understanding physical effects before they measuring how the size and composition of nanoparticles affect Celestica Chair in Materials for Microelectronics from the type of light used in radar. Along with Professors Joyce Poon, use them to create new devices. This often enables them to their journey through the body. They also developed non- Sorin Voinigescu and seven other colleagues, Eleftheriades is creating the overturn long established ideas. The photonic integrated devices invasive techniques to measure nanoparticle exposure. All of Centre for Reconfigurable Electromagnetic Surfaces (CERES). By leveraging and circuits can one day be used in large data centres or ‘server these developments will lead to safer nanotechnologies that existing partnerships with companies like Huawei Canada, Altera, ITS farms’ that power cloud computing and social media systems. can diagnose and treat many diseases. Electronics, AUG Signals, Comdev, Blackberry and organizations like Defence Research Development Canada, CERES will focus on developing ultra-thin surfaces that can manipulate electromagnetic waves for a variety Pictured above: Professor Joyce Poon — Canada Research Chair in Integrated Photonics — works with a graduate student in the Micro/NanoPhotonics Laboratory. of applications, including medical diagnostics..